Coasting; the act of making a progress along the seacoast of any courty

To coil a rope, a caine, d-e; to iny it round in a ring, one tern or take over another. To come home. The anchor is said to come home when it loosens from the ground by tha effort of the cable, and approaches the pince where the ship floated, at the length of her moorings.

Coming to, denotes the approach of a ship's head to the direction of the wind.

Course; the point of the compass upon which the ship sails. — Courses; a ship's lower maila as, the foresail is the fore-course, the mainsail the main-course, &e. her courses; that is, has no sail set but the mainsail, foresail, and mizzen. Corsicain; the person who steers the boat.

Crank-The ship is crank; that is, she has not a sufficient cargo or ballast to render her capable of bearing sail, without being exposed to the danger of oversetting

Crow-foot is a number of small lines, spread from the fore parts of the tops, by means of a

Bitts; very large pieces of timber in the fore part of a ship, round which the cables are fastened when the ship is at anchor.-After-bilts; a smaller kind of bitts upon the quarterdeck, for belaying the running rigging to.

To bitt the cable, is to confine the cable to the bitts, by one turn under the cross-piece, and another turn round the bitt-head. In this position it may be either kept fixed, or it may be veered away.

Bitter; the turn of the cable round the bitts. - Bitter-end; that part of the cable which stays within board, round about the bitts, when the ship is at anchor.

Block; a piece of wood, with running sheaves or wheels in it, through which the running rigging is passed, to add to the purchase.

Board. To board a ship, is to enter it in a hostile manner; to enter a ship.

Board. To make a board is making a stretch upon any tack, when a ship is working upon a wind. To board it up; that is, to turn to windward.-The ship has made a stern board; that is, when she loses ground in working upon a wind.

Boatswain; the officer who has charge of all the cordage, rigging, anchors, &c.
Bold shore; a steep coast, permitting the close approach of shipping.
Bolt-rope; the rope which goes round a sail, and to which the canvass is sewed.

The side

ropes are called leach-ropes; that at the top, the head-rope; and that at the bottom, the foot-rope.

Bonnet of a sail is an additional piece of canvass, put to the sail in moderate weather, to hold more wind. - Lace on the bonnet; that is, fasten it to the sail.-Shake off the bonnet; take it off.

Boot-topping; cleaning the upper part of a ship's bottom, or that part which lies immediately under the surface of the water, and daubing it over with tallow, or with a mixture of tallow, sulphur, rosin, &c.

Both sheets aft; the situation of a sip sailing right before the wind.

Bow-grate; a frame of old rope or junk, laid out at the bows, stems, and sides of ships, to prevent them from being injured by flakes of ice.

Bow-lines; lines made fast to the sides of the sails, to haul them forward when upon a wind, which, being hauled taut, enables the ship to come nearer to the wind.

To bouwse; to pull upon any body with a tackle, in order to remove it.

Bowsprit; a large mast or piece of timber which stands out from the bows of a ship. Borhauling; a particular method of veering a ship, when the swell of the sea renders tacking impracticable.

Boxing; an operation somewhat similar to boxhauling. It is performed by laying the headsails aback, to receive the greatest force of the wind in a line perpendicular to their surfaces, in order to turn the ship's head into the line of her course, after she has inclined to windward of it.

Braces; the ropes by which the yards are turned about, to form the sails to the wind. To brace the yards; to move the yards, by means of the braces, to any direction required. — To brace about; to brace the yards round for the contrary tack.-To brace sharp; to brace the yards to a position in which they will make the smallest possible angle with the keel, for the ship to have head-way.-To bruce to; to ease off the lee braces, and round in the weather braces, to assist the motion of the ship's head in tacking.

Brails; a name peculiar only to certain ropes belonging to the mizzen, used to truss it up to the mast; but it is likewise applied to all the ropes which are employed in hauling up the bottoms, lower corners, and skirts of the other great sails.-To brail up; to haul up a sail by means of the brails, for the more ready furling it when necessary.

To break bulk; to begin to unload a ship.

To break sheer. When a ship at anchor is forced, by the wind or current, from that position in which she keeps her anchor most free of herself, and most firm in the ground, so as to endanger the tripping of her anchor, she is said to break her sheer.

Breaming; burning off the filth from a ship's bottom.

Breast-fast; a rope employed to confine a ship sideways to a wharf, or to some other ship. To bring by the lee.-See To broach to.

To bring to; to check the course of a ship when she is advancing, by arranging the sails in such a manner that they shall counteract each other, and prevent her from either retreating or advancing.-See To lie to.

To broach to; to incline suddenly to windward of the ship's course, so as to present her side to the wind, and endanger her oversetting. The difference between broaching to and bringing by the lee may be thus defined: Suppose a ship, under great sail, is steering south, having the wind at N. N. W.; then west is the weather-side, and east the lee-side. If, by any accident, her head turns round to the westward, so that her sails are all taken aback on the weather-side, she is said to broach to. If, on the contrary, her head declines so far eastward as to lay her sails aback on that side which was the lee-side, it is called bringing by the lee.

Broadside; a discharge of all the guns on one side of a ship, both above and below.

Broken-backed; the state of a ship which is so loosened in her frame as to drop at each end. By the board; over the ship's side.

By the head; the state of a ship when she is so unequally loaded as to draw more water forward than aft.

nd; the course of a ship as near as possible to the direction of the wind, which is

Bunt-lines; ropes fastened to the foot-rope of square-sails, to draw them up to the middle of the yards for furling.

Buoy; a floating conical cask, moored upon shoals, to show where the danger is; it is also attached to anchors, to show where they lie, in case the cable breaks.

C.

Cap; a strong, thick block of wood, having two large holes through it, the one square, the other round; used to confine the two masts together.

Capsize; overturn.

The boat is capsized; that is, overset. — Capsize the coil of rope;

that is, turn it over. Capstan; an instrument by which the anchor is weighed out of the ground; used also for setting up the shrouds, and other work where a great purchase is required.

To careen; to incline a ship on one side so low down, by shifting the cargo or stores on one side, that her bottom on the other side may be cleansed by breaming.

Το carry away; to break; as, A ship has carried away her bowsprit; that is, has broken

it off.

Casting; the motion of falling off, so as to bring the direction of the wind on either side of the ship, after it has blown some time right ahead. It is particularly applied to a ship about to weigh anchor.

Cat-heads; the timbers on a ship's bows, with sheaves in them, by which the anchor is hoisted, after it has been hove up by the cable.

To cat the anchor, is to hook the cat-block to the ring of the anchor, and haul it up close to the cat-head.

Cat's-paro is a light air of wind perceived at a distance in a calm, sweeping the surface of the sea very lightly, and dying away before it reacties the ship.

Caulking is filling the seams of a ship with oakum.

Centre. This word is applied to that squadron of a fleet, in a line of battle, which occupies the middle of a line; and to that column, in the order of sailing, which is between the weather and lee columns.

Chains; a place built on the sides of the ship, projecting out, and at which the shrouds are fastened, for the purpose of giving them a greater angle than they could have if fastened to the ship's side, and of course giving them a greater power to secure the mast. Chain-plates are plates of iron fastened to the ship's sides under the chains, and to these plates the dead-eyes are fastened.

Chapelling; the act of turning a ship round in a light breeze of wind, when she is closehauled, so that she will lie the same way she did before. This is usually occasioned by negligence in steering, or by a sudden change of wind.

Chase; a vessel pursued by some other. Chaser; the vessel pursuing.

Cheerly; a phrase implying heartily, quickly, cheerfully.

To claw off to turn to windward from a lee shore, to escape shipwreck, &c.

Clear is variously applied. The weather is said to be clear when it is fair and open; the seacoast is clear when the navigation is not interrupted by rocks, &c. It is applied to cordage, cables, &c., when they are disentangled, so as to be ready for immediate service. In all these senses, it is opposed to foul. To clear the anchor, is to get the cable off the flukes, and to disencumber it of ropes, ready for dropping. Clear hawse; when the cables are directed to their anchors without lying athwart the stem. - - To clear the harose,

is to untwist the cables when they are entangled by having either a cross, an elbow, or a round turn.

Clew-lines are ropes which come down from the yards to the lower corners of the sails, and by which the corners or clews of the sails are hauled up.

Clew of a sail; the lower corners of square-sails, but the aftermost only of stay-sails, the other lower corner being called the tack.

To clew up; to haul up the clews of a sail to its yard by means of the clew-lines, &c.
Clinched; made fast, as the cable is to the ring of the anchor.

Close-hauled; that trim of the ship's sails, when she endeavors to make a progress in the nearest direction possible towards that point of the compass from which the wind blows. To club-haul; a method of tacking a ship when it is expected she will miss stays on a lee shore.

Coasting; the act of making a progress along the seacoast of any country.

To coil a rope, a cable, &c.; to lay it round in a ring, one turn or fake over another.

To come home. The anchor is said to come home when it loosens from the ground by the effort of the cable, and approaches the place where the ship floated, at the length of her moorings.

Coming to, denotes the approach of a ship's head to the direction of the wind.

Course; the point of the compass upon which the ship sails.- Courses; a ship's lower sails; as, the foresail is the fore-course, the mainsail the main-course, &c. -The ship is under her courses; that is, has no sail set but the mainsail, foresail, and mizzen.

Coxswain; the person who steers the boat.

Crank. The ship is crank; that is, she has not a sufficient cargo or ballast to render her capable of bearing sail, without being exposed to the danger of oversetting.

Crow-foot is a number of small lines, spread from the fore parts of the tops, by means of a

piece of wood through which they pass, and, being hauled taught upon the stays, they prevent the foot of the topsails catching under the top rim; they are also used to suspend the awnings.

Cun; to direct. - To cun a ship, is to direct the man at the helm how to steer.

To cut and run; to cut the cable, and make sail instantly, without waiting to weigh anchor.

D.

Davit; a long beam of timber, used as a crane, whereby to hoist the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow, without injuring the planks of the ship's sides as it ascends. There is always a davit, of a smaller kind, fixed to the long-boat to weigh the anchor by the buoy-rope.

To deaden a ship's way; to impede her progress through the water.

Dead-eyes; blocks of wood through which the laniards of the shrouds are reeved.

Dead-lights; a kind of window shutter for the windows in the stern of a ship, used in very bad weather only.

Dead-water; the eddy of water, which appears like whirlpools, closing in with the ship's stern as she sails on.

Dead-wind; the wind right against the ship, or blowing from the very point to which she wants to go.

Dismasted; the state of a ship that has lost her masts.

Dog-vane; a small vane with feathers and cork, and placed on the ship's quarter, for the men at cun and helm to see the course of wind by.

Dog-watch; the watches from four to six, and from six to eight in the evening. Doubling; the act of sailing round, or passing beyond, a cape or point of land. Doubling upon; the act of inclosing any part of a hostile fleet between two fires, or of cannonading it on both sides.

Douse; to lower suddenly, or slacken; to strike or haul down; as, Douse the top-gallantsails; that is, lower them.

Down-haul; the rope by which any sail is hauled down, as the jib down-haul.
To drag the anchor; to trail it along the bottom, after it is loosened from the ground.
To draw. When a sail is inflated by the wind, so as to advance the vessel in her course,
sail is said to draw; and so, To keep all drawing, is to inflate all the sails.

the

Drift; the angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the nearest meridian, when she drives with her side to the wind and waves, and is not governed by the power of the helm. It also implies the distance which the ship drives on that line. Driver; a large sail set upon the mizzen-yards in light winds.- Drive. The ship drives, that is, her anchor comes through the ground.

Drop; used sometimes to denote the depth of a sail; as, The fore-topsail drops twelve yards. To drop anchor; used synonymously with to anchor.- To drop astern; the retrograde motion of a ship. Dunnage; a quantity of loose wood, &c., laid at the bottom of a ship, to keep the goods from being damaged.

E.

Earings; small ropes used to fasten the upper corners of sails to the yards.

To case, to ease away, or to ease off; to slacken gradually; thus they say, Ease the bow-line,

Ease the sheet.

"Ease the ship!" the command given by the pilot to the steersman, to put the helm hard a-lee, when the ship is expected to plunge her fore part deep in the water when close-hauled. To edge away; to decline gradually from the shore, or from the line of the course which the ship formerly held, in order to go more large.

To edge in with; to advance gradually towards the shore, or any other object.

Elbow in the hawse, is when a ship, being moored, has gone round, upon the shifting of the tides, twice the wrong way, so as to lay the cables one over the other. Having gone once wrong, she makes a cross in the hawse; and going three times wrong, she makes a round turn.

End for end; a term used when a rope runs all out of a block, and is unreeved; or, in coming to an anchor, if the stoppers are not well put on, and the cable runs all out, it is said to have gone out end for end.

End on.

When a ship advances to a shore, rock, &c., without an apparent possibility of preventing her, she is said to go end on for the shore, &c.

Engagement; action or fight.

Ensign; the flag worn at the stern of a ship.

Entering-port; a large port in the side of three-deckers, leading into the middle deck, to save the trouble of going up the ship's side to get on board.

Even keel. When the keel is parallel with the horizon, a ship is said to be upon an even

keel.

F.

Fair; a general term for the disposition of the wind, when favorable to a ship's course. Fair way; the channel of a narrow bay, river, or haven, in which ships usually advance in

Fack, or fake; one circle of any rope or cable coiled.

Fag-end; the end of any rope which is become untwisted by frequent use; to prevent which, the ends of ropes are wound round with pieces of twine, which operation is called whipping.

To fall aboard of; to strike or encounter another ship, when one or both are in motion.— To fall astern; the motion of a ship with her stern foremost. - To full calm; to become in a state of rest by a total cessation of the wind. To fall down; to sail or be towed down a river nearer towards its mouth.

Falling off, denotes the motion of the ship's head from the direction of the wind. It is used in opposition to coming to.

"Fall not off, or nothing off!" The command of the steersman to keep the ship near the

wind

Fathom; a measure of six feet.

To fetch away, to be shaken or agitated from one side to another, so as to loosen any thing which before was fixed.

Fid; a square bar of wood or iron, with shoulders at one end, used to support the weight of the topmast, when erected at the head of a lower mast. Fid for splicing; a large piece of wood, of a conical figure, used to extend the strands and layers of cables in splicing.

To fill; to brace the sails so as to receive the wind in them, and advance the ship in her course, after they have been either shivering or braced aback.

Fish; a large piece of wood. Fish the mast; apply a large piece of wood to it to strengthen it.

Fish-hook, a large hook, by which the anchor is received and brought to the cat-head; and the tackle which is used for this purpose is called the fish-tackle.

To fish the anchor; to draw up the flukes of the anchor towards the top of the bow, in order to stow it, after having been catted.

Flag; a general name for colors worn and used by ships of war.

Flat aft; the situation of the sails when their surfaces are pressed aft against the mast by the force of the wind.

To flat in; to draw in the aftermost lower corner, or clew, of a sail towards the middle of the ship, to give the sail a greater power to turn the vessel. — To flat in forward; to draw in the fore-sheet, jib-sheet, and fore-staysail-sheet, towards the middle of the ship. Flaw; a sudden breeze or gust of wind.

Floating; the state of being buoyed up by the water from the ground.

Flood-tide; the state of a tide when it flows or rises.

Flowing sheets; the position of the sheets of the principal sails when they are loosened from the wind so as to receive it into their cavities more nearly perpendicular than when close-hauled, but more obliquely than when the ship sails before the wind. A ship going two or three points large has flowing sheets.

Fore; that part of a ship's frame and machinery that lies near the stem. - Fore and aft; throughout the whole ship's length; lengthways of the ship.

Fore-reach; to shoot ahead, or go past another vessel.

To force over; to force a ship violently over a shoal by a great quantity of sail.

Forward; towards the fore part of a ship.

Foul is used in opposition both to clear and fair. As opposed to clear, we say, foul weather, foul bottom, foul ground, foul anchor, foul hawse. As opposed to fair, we say, foul wind. To founder; to sink at sea by filling with water.

To free. Pumping is said to free, the ship, when it discharges more water than leaks into her. To freshen. When a gale increases, it is said to freshen. To freshen the hawse; to veer out or heave in a little cable, to let another part of it endure the stress of the hawsehole. It is also applied to the act of renewing the service round the cable at the hawsehole.

Freshen the ballast; divide or separate it.

Fresh way. When a ship increases her velocity, she is said to get fresh way.
Full; the situation of the sails when they are kept distended by the wind.

Full and by; the situation of a ship, with regard to the wind, when close-hauled, and sail

ing so as neither to steer too nigh the direction, nor to deviate to leeward.

To furl; to wrap or to roll a sail close up to the yard or stay to which it belongs, and to wind a cord round it to keep it fast.

G.

Gage of the ship; her depth of water, or what water she draws.

To gain the wind; to arrive on the weather side, or to windward of some ship or fleet in sight, when both are sailing as near the wind as possible.

Gammon the bowsprit; secure it by turns of a strong rope passed round it, and into the cutwater, to prevent it from having too much motion.

Gangway; that part of a ship's side, both within and without, by which persons enter and depart.

Garboard streak; the first range or streak of planks laid in a ship's bottom next the keel. Gasket; the rope which is passed round the sail, to bind it to the yard, when it is furled,